How the men of Chip Camp II measure up
Chip Kelly's Eagles keep getting bigger, and we're only at his second training camp.
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WHEN CHIP KELLY held his first full-team OTAs as Eagles coach in May 2013, one thing was apparent, even to the players.
"I have noticed that there are a lot bigger guys here this year," said Dennis Kelly, then an Eagles second-year offensive lineman.
The 90 players who Kelly would bring to his first full training camp 2 months later were, on average, three-quarters of an inch taller and 7 pounds heavier than the 90 who had attended Andy Reid's final preseason get-together a year earlier.
And although the 90-man average for Chip II is about the same as Chip I, two positions have grown significantly.
The wide receivers in training camp have gone from an average of 5-11 3/4 and 195 pounds in Reid's final year to 6-0 3/4, 202 last season to 6-1 1/4, 207 this season. (And where have you gone, DeSean "5-foot-10" Jackson?)
On the other side of the ball, training camp invitees along the defensive line have gone from 6-2 5/8, 282 to 6-3 1/2, 294 to 6-4 5/8, 297.
Just behind them are the linebackers, who grew from 6-0 5/8, 237 in Reid's last stand to 6-2 1/8, 249 for Kelly's first. They have pretty much retained that size (6-2 1/4, 250) this July.
Only three players that were defensive linemen in Reid's camp (Vinny Curry, Cedric Thornton, Fletcher Cox) are manning the same position at the start of this camp. Two others (Trent Cole, Brandon Graham) are now LBs.
As a point of reference, Kelly's first training camp had 41 of the players that were members of Reid's final 90. There are only 25 players starting this camp that were there at the beginning of Reid's final July get-together.
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